Editorials & Other Articles

Brian Driscoll, a senior FBI official who briefly served as acting director in the early days of the Trump administration, is being ousted from the bureau amid a sweeping leadership purge, two sources familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.

The veteran agent with extensive counterterrorism experience is expected to leave the FBI on Friday.

"I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I have no answers," Driscoll wrote in a message to colleagues. "No cause has been articulated at this time."

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment when reached by Newsweek via email Thursday night.

Driscoll drew national attention earlier this year when he and then–Deputy Director Rob Kissane resisted pressure from Trump administration officials to turn over the names of FBI agents who had participated in the investigation into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Instead, the bureau provided anonymized data—identifying agents by unique employee numbers—in response to a request from senior Justice Department official Emil Bove, who later accused FBI leadership of "insubordination" in a memo. Bove was confirmed last week to a seat on the federal appeals court.